BHEL starts 2,730-MW power projects in 1st half of 2015-16

The state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) said it has commissioned 2,730 MW of utility power projects in the first six months of 2015-16. "BHEL has once again demonstrated its project execution prowess with the commissioning of 2,730 MW of utility power projects in the first half of the current financial year (2015-16)... It has also more than doubled the power project commissioning achievement of 1,167 MW in the corresponding period of last year," the company said in a statement.

The company further said power generation has also commenced from the BHEL-supplied 660-MW unit at Lalitpur thermal power station (TPS) in Uttar Pradesh. Significantly, the 11 utility sets commissioned by BHEL have been with projects across the country. Projects in the North include two units each of 200 MW at Koldam hydro electric project (HEP) in Himachal Pradesh and four units each of 82.5 MW at Shrinagar HEP in Uttarakhand, it said.

Also, two thermal sets of 500 MW each -- one at Anpara in Uttar Pradesh and another at Vindhyachal in Madhya Pradesh -- have been commissioned during the year. The 660-MW Lalitpur unit was synchronised 3 months ahead of schedule. Notably, this is the first supercritical set to be commissioned in Uttar Pradesh.

BHEL has started the 250-MW Bongaigaon Unit-1 in Assam. It also commissioned the 500-MW Tuticorin-2 in Tamil Nadu and the 250 MW Unit-4 at Sikka TPS in Gujarat. The hydro sets commissioned by BHEL in the first two quarters total 730 MW, which is nearly the same as the total hydro capacity added in the country during 2014-15.